The heavy breathing, gratuitous nudity, and “unusual behavior” Fifty Shades Of Grey will bring to theaters this month have been deemed unfit for Malaysian moviegoers. Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid, chairman of the Malaysian Film Censorship Board, deemed the film’s erotic content “sadistic,” saying it’s more like “pornography than a movie.” According to The Star, United International Pictures, the film’s local distributor, has confirmed Fifty Shades won’t be released in the country, where it was originally slated for February 12.
It’s hard to argue with Abdul Hamid’s assessment of the Fifty Shades Of Grey—although if we’re punching the exact numbers, only about 16 percent of it will actually be comprised of sex scenes. Regardless, Malaysia is largely a conservative Muslim country, so the ban on a film containing “scenes that are not of natural sexual content” and “featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped” is hardly surprising. Malaysian bondage fetishists will just have to plan strategic vacations out of the country for Valentine’s Day this year.